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Rage Virus
The Rage Virus, also known simply as the Infection, is a fictional disease in 28 Days Later. It is a virulent, bloodborne pathogen that sends its hosts into a state of extreme rage. History Origin Two Cambridge University scientists named Clive and Warren were hired to try and isolate the specific neurochemicals that cause anger and excessive aggression in humans in order to develop an inhibitor that regulates anger control issues. After they successfully developed an inhibitor, Warren believed that delivering widespread with a pill or an aerosol wouldn't do, and decided to use the Ebola Virus as a delivery system. However, within two weeks, several isolated genomes in the Ebola Virus reacted to the inhibitor and mutated, causing the inhibitor to have the opposite effect; instead of inhibiting anger, it caused its hosts to become full of uncontrollable rage; Clive and Warren had created the Rage Virus. (28 Days Later: The Aftermath) Release Clive was so disgusted by this that he quit. He later informed the Animal Freedom Front about the experimentation of animals and proceeded to shoot himself (28 Days Later: The Aftermath). A group of activists sent by the AFF later broke into the lab and freed one of the infected chimpanzees. That chimpanzee attacked and infected one of the activists, who then infected a scientist and the other activists. From them, the Rage Virus spread throughout Great Britain. (28 Days Later) Original Outbreak :See main article: Original Outbreak After the release of the infected chimps from the Cambridge Primate Research Centre, the Rage Virus began to spread throughout mainland Britain. At first, the effects of the Rage Virus were regarded by the media as rioting (28 Days Later, 28 Days Later: The Aftermath), but they were discredited by the public, as the Infected were attacking small villages and market towns as well as cities such as London and Cambridge (28 Days Later). Eight days after the virus was released, the Prime Minister declared a state of emergency and martial law was imposed. However, the military blockades protecting London and Manchester were overrun, causing the remainder of the panicked public that was not already infected to try and evacuate the country (28 Days Later, 28 Days Later: The Aftermath). This exodus ended when, fifteen days after the Infection was released, mainland Britain was quarantined by NATO and the UN. (28 Weeks Later) Within the next thirteen days, British society broke down and mainland Britain had been overrun by the Infected, leaving only a few scattered survivors. Apart from these survivors, the rest of the British populance were either dead, infected, or had escaped during the exodus. (28 Days Later) Death of the Infected After the original outbreak, the Infected gradually began to die from starvation (28 Days Later, 28 Days Later: The Aftermath). Within five weeks after the initial outbreak, the last of the Infected in Britain died out. (28 Weeks Later) Second Outbreak :See main article: Second Outbreak After the Infected had all died out, the US Army began to repopulate London on the Isle of Dogs, while their forces decontaminated the rest of the city. However, twenty-eight weeks after the original outbreak, Alice Harris, an asymptomatic carrier of the Rage Virus, was brought into the safe zone, District 1. Alice reunited with her husband, Don, but accidentally infected him with Rage through a kiss. After killing Alice, the infected Don went on a rampage in District 1, infecting or killing anyone he came across, and igniting another outbreak of the Rage Virus. As the Infection spread throughout District 1, the US Army first began shooting and killing only Infected, but as the Infected multiplied, the Army began shooting and killing both Infected and uninfected civilians. Eventually, the Air Cavalry firebombed District 1 in an effort to wipe out the virus, but a large number of Infected survived the firebombing and escaped into the derelict London, respreading the Infection. When the US Army discovered this, they, having not yet given up, began venting chemical gas and sending out soldiers and attack choppers to exterminate the remaining Infected. It is unknown whether or not the Army succeeded. (28 Weeks Later) Outbreak in Europe Andy Harris, Alice and Don's son, meanwhile, was bitten by his infected father and thus became a carrier of Rage like his mother. Andy and his sister, Tammy, then flew across the English Channel into France. Within the next twenty-eight days, the Rage Virus was able to spread to mainland Europe, and Paris came under attack by the Infected (28 Weeks Later). This would imply that the Infection will spread through and decimate all of mainland Eurasia. Exactly how the Rage Virus reached France is unknown; the most likely explanation is that Andy accidentally infected someone else after he, Flynn and Tammy arrived there; that person then presumably began spreading the Infection throughout France. Another possibility is that the Infected in London escaped into France through the tunnels beneath the Channel (though this is very unlikely, as this apparently did not happen during the original outbreak, and the tunnels would have most likely been closed when the Rage Virus first broke out to prevent it from spreading into Europe). Infection The Rage Virus is spread through the blood and saliva, and is highly contagious, to the point that just one drop of infected fluid is enough to infect a host. The virus is typically transmitted through bites, but can also spread through saliva exchange. Other ways Rage can infect a host include an Infected spewing infected blood in a host's face (28 Days Later, 28 Days Later: The Aftermath) or so much as one drop of infected blood getting in a host's eyes or mouth. Once a host is infected, they will have 10 - 20 seconds before they succumb to the Infection. It appears that the amount of time it takes for the virus to take over a host depends on the amount of Rage that entered and infected the host's system; if infected fluid is vomited directly into a host's face, they will succumb to the Infection almost instantly, but if one drop of infected fluid gets into their system through their eyes or mouth, it will take approximately 15 - 20 seconds before the virus begins to visibly affect them (28 Days Later). An infected host may experience painful spasms and uncontrollable twitches as the Rage Virus takes over their system, and they will begin to bleed from their eyes and mouth. Primates like humans and monkeys are apparently the only animals that can carry the Rage Virus. It is unknown what would happen to a non-primate animal if it were exposed to the Infection, but it would presumably either die or be unaffected by the virus. Characteristics The Rage Virus causes extreme aggression in a victim once they succumb to the disease. From that point on, the victim seeks out and viciously attacks any uninfected person to the extent of anything else, even self-preservation and self-nourishment. The disease is easily transmissible through any bodily fluid. Because of this extreme contagiousness and very short incubation time, a crowd of hundreds could be infected by one single individual in a matter of minutes (28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later). The virus gives those infected heightened mobility and endurance, thus enabling them to quickly rampage through miles and miles of territory and invade entire towns (28 Weeks Later). The virus also seems to change the behaviour of the Infected, because before they were generally highly active during the day (28 Weeks Later); but in the space of time they are infected they become nocturnal and are more active at night (28 Days Later, 28 Days Later (comic series)). Rage is a recombinant strain of Ebola, and while its psychological symptoms are more like those of Rabies, it does retain some of the physiological symptoms of Ebola (red eyes, internal and external hemorrhaging and bleeding). The Rage Virus is also bloodborne and capable of infecting only primates; characteristics which it presumably retained from the Ebola Virus it mutated from. (28 Days Later: The Aftermath) Some of the most prominent physical features of all the Infected is their eyes, which turn a brilliant red, possibly symbolizing their supreme anger and hatred. The Rage Virus also causes spasms in the extremities (28 Days Later, 28 Days Later: The Aftermath), and causes capillaries to hemorrhage as well, making the host frequently vomit blood and bleed from their eyes and nose. Immunity Certain people such as Alice and Andy Harris possess a natural immunity to the symptoms of the Rage Virus; if the virus infects one of these immune people, they will become a carrier of the disease but will remain immune to its effects. Carriers are still capable of infecting others though, as their blood and saliva still carries the virus, but they will not display any symptoms of Infection themselves except for the left eye's sclera partially turning red. Nevertheless, Scarlet Levy, District 1's chief medical officer, suggested that research be conducted on Alice's blood sample to study and ultimately locate a possible vaccine. Unfortunately, Alice inadvertently spread the Infection and was killed herself before any research could be conducted. When Andy was attacked by his infected father, he displayed no symptoms of the Rage Virus (other than infected blood seeping into his left eye), having inherited his mother's immunity. Despite this apparent immunity, he also became a carrier himself. (28 Weeks Later) Attention is given to the fact that Alice and her son Andy, the only two known Carriers, possess heterochromic eye color; a seeming indicator of their immunity, though it is unknown whether this trait is linked to the immunity. However, according to Scarlet, the immunity is most likely caused by a genetic abnormality. Thus, if this is correct, it is possible that the cause of the immunity is the same cause for Alice and Andy's hetereochromia. (28 Weeks Later) Trivia *The disease is only ever seen being called "Rage" or "the Rage Virus" three times: by the scientist at the start of 28 Days Later; in the sequence after the start of 28 Weeks Later that says what has happened in the 28 weeks after the outbreak; and in 28 Days Later: The Aftermath, when Clive comments that he and Warren have "created a rage virus". Most of the other times a character mentions it, they simply call it "the Virus", "the Infection", or "Infection". *Despite it being revealed in 28 Days Later: The Aftermath that the Rage Virus was accidentally created while Cambridge University scientists were trying to develop an anger inhibitor, in the non-canon comic series, Dr. Billingsworth directly implied several times that the Rage Virus was developed as a biological weapon. However, it is possible that Billingsworth had merely speculated this based on his research, or that The Aftermath is not canon to the comics. *Danny Boyle has stated that primates are the only animals that can carry the virus. This fact is further supported by the fact that no infected animals other than chimps have been seen, and the fact that Rage is a recombinant strain of Ebola. Also, in 28 Days Later, a crow was shown to be pecking at an infected soldier's corpse, and did not appear to become infected from consuming the corpse's blood which was carrying the Infection. *While the psychological symptoms of Rage are similar to those of Rabies, most of the physiological symptoms resemble those of Ebola. The latter is likely because (according to 28 Days Later: The Aftermath) the Rage Virus is a mutated strain of the Ebola Virus. *An alternative scene in 28 Days Later depicted that the only cure to the Rage Virus is a complete blood transfusion. Worsley House was originally supposed to be a lab with a scientist who created the radio broadcast. In this scene, Frank was to be saved by having his infected blood replaced by the uninfected blood in Jim. The scene was cut, and cannot be viewed anywhere. *The Flood from the Doctor Who episode, The Waters of Mars, share several similarities with the Rage Virus; both take over an infected host in seconds, causing the host to spasm as they do so. Also, both Rage and the Flood cause their hosts' eyes to change colour, and both viruses cause their hosts to exhude a liquid containing the virus from their mouths. *Strangely, most of the physiological symptoms of the Rage Virus do not appear to be as severe in chimpanzees as in humans; while infected humans are constantly bleeding from their eyes, nose and mouth, infected chimps do not appear to bleed from their eyes or nose, and apparently vomit blood much less than humans. Also, while infected chimps do possess the uncontrollable rage towards the uninfected found in humans, at least one chimp was shown to clap sadistically as another infected chimp attacked a human, suggesting that infected chimps retain some form of sadistic thought processing. This would suggest that the symptoms of Rage are milder in infected chimps than in humans. This was also shown in Don Harris, who, when infected, expressed pleasure in seeing the uninfected suffer, and showed intelligence usually devoid in infected humans. *The Rage Virus is shown to be able to infect and take over a host within seconds. But in real life, it would be impossible for a virus to cause such virulent symptoms within such a short amount of time, however fast-acting it is. However, it was revealed in 28 Days Later: The Aftermath that the Rage Virus mutated from the Ebola Virus and an anger inhibitor; it is possible that the characteristics of the inhibitor that remained when it mutated into Rage are related to the Infection's short incubation time (because although viruses cannot be as fast-acting as the Rage Virus, some drugs can be), though nothing is stated. *According to the ''28 Days Later'' comic series, some months after the original outbreak of Infection in mainland Britain (before the events of 28 Weeks Later but at around the time the NATO occupation of London began), the Rage Virus spread to the Shetland Islands, and possibly other islands near mainland Britain. However, as the comics are unofficially non-canon, and all of the Infected in Britain had starved to death in the canon continuity by this point, it can be presumed that this did not happen in the canon universe. *Though Alice and Andy Harris are the only two known Carriers, in the ''28 Days Later'' comic series, Dr. Billingsworth was aware of the existence of Carriers (as according to him, the black operation he was part of had found evidence that some people were naturally immune to the symptoms of Infection), implying that there are other Carriers besides Alice and Andy. However, the comic series is considered non-canon, as it depicted that the Infected were still alive when Britain began repopulating. External Links *List of Fictional Diseases - Wikipedia.org *Rage Virus - Zombiepedia